Drink Less Alcohol

We could prevent up to about 617 cases of cancer in Alberta each year – if we support each other to drink less alcohol.

Which cancers are linked to alcohol?

While most people are aware of the immediate effects of drinking alcohol, we often don’t think about the longer term health risks. We’ve known for ages that low amounts of alcohol can reduce the risk of heart disease, but many people are surprised by the fact that alcohol increases the risk of cancer.

Drinking even just one drink a day can increase a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer. In fact, the risk of breast cancer increases steadily with each extra drink per day1. Women who drink three or more drinks per day are 50% more likely to develop breast cancer2.

The less alcohol you drink, the lower your risk of cancer.

Experts in Alberta recently looked at how much cancer could be prevented by avoiding alcohol3. For individual cancer types, they found that:

Colorectal Cancer:

Alcohol is linked to up to about 12% of colorectal cancer cases. That’s about 236 cases in Alberta each year.

Breast Cancer:

Up to about 7% of breast cancer is linked to alcohol. So we could avoid about 150 cases of breast cancer in Alberta each year if women didn’t drink alcohol.

Oral Cancer:

Up to about 40% of oral cancers are linked to drinking alcohol. That’s equal to about 146 cases of oral cancer in Alberta each year.

Esophageal Cancer:

Up to about 20% of esophageal cancers, or 47 cases in Alberta each year, are linked to alcohol.

Liver Cancer:

Alcohol is linked to about 9% of liver cancer cases. That’s up to about 19 cases of liver cancer in Alberta each year.

Laryngeal Cancer

Up to about 25% of larynx cancers, or 19 cases each year, are linked to alcohol in Alberta.

Drinking alcohol is particularly harmful when combined with smoking, but even on its own, alcohol increases cancer risk.

Overall, alcohol is linked to up to about 4% of new cancer cases in Alberta.

How does drinking alcohol affect my risk of cancer?

Experts aren’t exactly sure how alcohol increases cancer risk, but it may lead to different cancers in different ways:

The chemicals produced when the body breaks down alcohol may damage cells and cause cancer directly. Or, the chemicals produced might act as a solvent that allows other harmful chemicals from tobacco smoke—for example—to enter cells.

Drinking alcohol causes more free radicals to be produced, and perhaps these free radicals damage cells and cause cancer.

Alcohol may lower the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B6 (folate) from food. Low folate may increase the risk of breast and colorectal cancers.

Women should drink no more than 10 drinks a week and no more than two drinks a day most days.

Men should drink no more than 15 drinks a week and no more than three drinks a day most days.

The scope of the health benefits from drinking alcohol is limited, and there are other ways to improve your heart health and reduce stress such as healthy eating and physical activity. It’s important to know that the risk of heart disease and stroke actually increases with heavier drinking.

If you want to reduce your risk of cancer, you should drink less than the Canadian Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking limits. The Canadian Cancer Society and many other groups committed to cancer prevention recommend:

Not drinking at all.

If consumed at all, alcoholic drinks should be limited to two drinks per day for men and one per day for women.

The recommended limit is lower for women because on average their body size is smaller and they tend to be more vulnerable to alcohol’s physical effects.

What else can limiting alcohol help me with?

Alcohol affects every organ in the body. Drinking less can help you avoid the following issues immediately:

Injuries

Violence

Acute alcohol poisoning

Limiting alcohol can help prevent many longer term health issues such as:

Dementia and stroke

Liver diseases

High blood pressure

Pancreatitis

Gastritis

Depression and anxiety

Social problems including unemployment and problems with relationships

Alcoholic drinks can be surprisingly high in calories. Cutting down on the amount you drink can help you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, which in turn will help to further reduce your cancer risk.

Tips for limiting alcohol consumption

The Alberta results from the 2013 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey showed that the vast majority (74.5%) of Albertans aged 15 and older reported consuming alcohol in the prior year. Of some concern, Albertans were more likely to exceed the Low Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines than Canadians as a whole - 17.2% of Albertans compared to 15.7% of Canadians exceeded the Canadian Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guideline limits.

Be aware that in recent years, serving sizes and the strength of some alcoholic drinks served in public places have increased. This makes it easier to drink more alcohol than the standard drink sizes would estimate.